Seachange Bulletin #113July 26, 2003Seachange Bulletin ArchivesEmail the editorSeachange Bulletin #113: AARN/California: Nurses Rise as Tenet Falls Striking Registered Nurses at Tenet Healthcare's Doctors Medical Center Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to continue their lengthy walkout - and have received a strong pledge of support from the United Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO·CLC, one of the nation's largest unions. The USWA's International Executive Board has voted unanimously to support the RNs who have been on strike since early November against the hospital which has two facilities in Contra Costa County, Ca. east of San Francisco. The 450 RNs, who are represented by the California Nurses Association, conducted a secret ballot vote over two days that concluded Tuesday to reject Tenet's contract proposal, virtually the same offer made by Tenet at the onset of the walkout. The proposal failed to address any of the key issues in the dispute - especially the RNs’ critical concern for retirement security with a fair pension and post-retirement medical benefits. "No issue is more essential to nurses, especially in this economic climate, than assuring retirement security for themselves and their families, and Tenet's offer would leave its RNs with virtually nothing for their future" said CNA President Kay McVay, RN. "Every hospital employer in the region - except Tenet - has understood the importance of a fair pension as a critical step to reducing the turnover of RNs to help address the nursing shortage." Meanwhile, in a resolution adopted by its International Executive Board, the USWA said it would donate $25,000 to the CNA's Tenet Strike Fund, and committed to assigning staff from its Strategic Campaigns, Organizing and other departments to support CNA and the RNs. ... Nurses association files charges against Tenet, unions San Francisco Business Times, May 5, 2003 <http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2003/05/05/daily10.h tml> The California Nurses Association filed formal charges Monday with the National Labor Relations Board to overturn an agreement announced Friday by Tenet Healthcare and the Service Employees International Union and the United Nurses of California. The association said Tenet violated federal labor law by putting conditions on pay increases and other benefits on its employees joining the SEIU/UNAC. The association further claims SEIU has distributed flyers stating that employees must join SEIU to receive promised pay increases. The association also claims the SEIU/UNAC granted preferential treatment in meeting with employees. Under the charges filed by the association, any private elections held under the agreement, or union recognition granted by Tenet to SEIU/UNAC as a result of the pact, could be set aside. The association said it will press charges. Battle of nurses unions Claudia Harrison, RN, Modesto, Modesto Bee, May 12, 2003 <http://www.modbee.com/opinion/letters/story/6727846p-7667908c.html> Regarding the May 1 story, "DMC rebuffs nurses union" (Page D-1), I have lived and worked as a proud member of the nursing profession in Modesto for the last 15 years. I am so glad to hear that the registered nurses at Doctors Medical Center are organizing with the California Nurses Association. My career has been varied from the start and has been quite exciting. I have worked at both hospitals in town and in the Bay Area and the last 12 years at a CNA facility in the area. I have been a member of a CNA bargaining committee and have seen just a small piece of the hard battle that this organization has waged that paved the way to improve patient care in our community. Recently, an organization called the Service Employees International Union started a multimillion-dollar attack campaign against the CNA. It has now brought its disruptive campaign to our hometown hospital, Doctors Modesto. The SEIU promotes cozy relationships with health-care employers and are trying to sabotage the strength of the CNA by taking credit for its achievements. My profession has made extensive gains this last year and if SEIU has anything to say about it, they will be abolished and people with less training will be providing care to the people in this community. California Nurses Association Takes Legal Action To Force Tenet to Pay Employees Promised Raises Now Tenet Conditioning Pay Increases on Joining Handpicked Union, SEIU/AFSCME California Nurses Association, May 12, 2003 <http://www.calnurses.org/cna/press/51203.html> The California Nurses Association is taking legal action today to compel Tenet Healthcare to immediately grant pay raises to registered nurses and other employees that Tenet has illegally conditioned on the employees becoming members of the Service Employees Union or the State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME/UNAC). CNA will file charges with the National Labor Relations Board requesting the Board to seek an injunction in federal court that would order Tenet to pay the promised raises immediately, without conditions. CNA is also seeking to overturn the back room agreement between Tenet and SEIU/AFSCME that allows Tenet to handpick a union for its employees, and any fraudulent private elections held by Tenet/SEIU under the deal. "It is disgraceful and unlawful for Tenet to deny its RNs and other staff, who are far below the market in compensation, benefits and working conditions, the raises they are entitled to - unless their employees agree to a shotgun wedding with SEIU/AFSCME," said CNA Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro. ... Much more information on Tenet, along with reports on SEIU campaigns to set up company unions across the US, is available on the CNA website <htp://www.calnurse.org>. US Government Rejects Tenet's 'Fishing Expedition,' Certifies Calif. Nurses Assn. to Represent Tenet San Ramon RNs California Nurses Association, May 12, 2003 <http://www.calnurse.org/cna/press/51203a.html> The US National Labor Relations Board has certified the California Nurses Association to represent registered nurses at Tenet Healthcare's San Ramon Regional Medical Center in Northern California. The order was issued Friday, overturning Tenet's legal challenges to a secret ballot election last October in which the 250 RNs voted to join CNA. In unusually strong language, the federal Board found Tenet had "asserted no facts and introduced no evidence that directly or indirectly supports" its main objection that would cause the election to be reversed. "Absent such evidence," Tenet is engaged in "a mere 'fishing expedition'," in seeking additional documents to support its objection to the election, the Board ruled. ... Regional's nurses union recognized Hospital agrees Inga Miller, Tri-Valley Herald, May 13, 2003 San Ramon - Ending a seven-month standoff with organized labor, San Ramon Regional Medical Center will negotiate a union contract with nurses, company officials said Monday. They received notice from the National Labor Relations Board earlier in the day certifying a union vote by nurses. The certification overturns objections to that election by the hospital. "We're ready to sit down with CNA and negotiate," said David Langness, director of communications for Tenet Healthcare Corp., which owns the hospital. All 250 registered nurses will be part of the California Nurses Association, said union spokesman Charles Idelson. In October, about 56 percent of the 241 nurses then voted to join the association. ... CNA takes on Tenet over pay raises Tim Moran, Modesto Bee, May 13, 2003 <http://www.modbee.com/business/story/6735245p-7675112c.html> The California Nurses Association filed charges Monday with the National Labor Relations Board to force Tenet Healthcare to grant immediate pay raises to registered nurses and other employees. The CNA complaint contends that a labor alliance announced by Tenet earlier this month, which promises employees raises of up to 29 percent for joining certain unions, is illegal. Tenet Healthcare formed the alliance with the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees. The nurses association is asking the labor board to seek an injunction in federal court forcing Tenet to pay the raises to employees whether they join the unions or not. Tenet Healthcare operates 42 hospitals, 40 of them in California. Doctors Medical Center of Modesto and Doctors Hospital in Manteca are Tenet hospitals. Steven Campanini, a spokesman for Tenet Healthcare, declined comment on the complaint. ... San Ramon nurses to get CNA help in negotiations Taunya English, Contra Costa Times, May 13, 2003 <http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/news/5848722.htm> San Ramon - When San Ramon Regional Medical Center and its nurses finally meet to negotiate salary and benefits, the California Nurses Association will represent their interests at the bargaining table. The National Labor Relations Board certified the union's status as the nurses' bargaining representative Friday, nearly seven months after approval by a 119-93 vote. A three-member, labor-board panel in Washington, DC, rejected the hospital's claim that the election was invalidated because a pro-union nurse campaigned at the polling place and acted as an agent of the union. ... Nursing A Grudge Nader Says Health Care Has New Enemy: Big Labor <http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/03/37/news-schou.php> Nick Schou, Orange County Weekly, May 16 - 22, 2003 When thousands of health-care workers won union contracts at 40 California and Florida hospitals owned by the notoriously anti-union Tenet Healthcare Corp., it was hailed as another victory for the labor movement. So how come Ralph Nader, other consumer advocates and the state’s largest nurses’ union aren’t celebrating? In a statement issued on behalf of the California Nurses Association (CNA), Nader says the deal is the latest example of big unions signing "backroom deals" with questionable health-care corporations at the expense of the greater public good. "Tenet is notorious for its commitment to profits regardless of the consequences for the public’s well-being," Nader stated. "As has already occurred with other arrangements, SEIU’s backroom deal degrades independent professional responsibility of nurses for patient-care protection." ... Deborah Burger, RN, has been elected the next President of the California Nurses Association Burger, who works in diabetes care management at Kaiser Permanente’s Santa Rosa, chaired the CNA Kaiser JABC in contract talks last year and has served as a nurse representative and a member of the PPC. "I could not be more thrilled that our members have chosen Deborah Burger to carry on the accomplishments and traditions of CNA we have worked so hard to build." - Kay McVay, RN CNA President McVay, who will pass the CNA leadership to Burger at the September 100 Year Anniversary Celebration & House of Delegates in Oakland, has served the past four years in the post, the full term allowed under CNA bylaws. "I am proud to have been chosen as part of the leadership that is now charged with building upon the gains CNA has made the past four years under the tireless work and dedicated leadership of Kay McVay. We are all looking forward with renewed enthusiasm to continuing the dynamic relationship of our elected staff nurse leaders with CNA Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro and the incredible staff at CNA that has made CNA the most respected, premiere RN professional organization and union in the country." - Deborah Burger, RN Other Officers Elected Include RNs: Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, Vice President, Kaiser South San Francisco Malinda Markowitz, Secretary, Good Samaritan Medical Center, San Jose Martha Kuhl, Treasurer, Children’s Hospital, Oakland "Everyday we work to protect our patients and preserve our practice. This election was an endorsement of our patient advocacy program." - Deborah Burger, RN, CNA President-Elect Membership Overwhelmingly Endorses CNA’s Patient Advocacy Path CNA IS CALIFORNIA’S LARGEST ORGANIZATION OF RNS ... ... and the largest and fastest growing independent nurses union in the country. Over the past few years, the association has doubled its membership and won land-mark gains for RNs in economic improvements, retirement security, and important new patient care protections, such as passage of the nation’s first RN-to-patient staffing ratio law. Tenet lays off 32 local employees Company says care won't be affected Ronette King, The Times-Picayune, May 20, 2003 <http://www.nola.com/business/t-p/index.ssf?/base/money-0/1053408351202790.xml > The troubles of Tenet Healthcare Corp. are starting to filter down to the local level, as 32 workers at three hospitals and the regional office were laid off this week. Meanwhile, the chief of Tenet's Memorial Medical Center has resigned. Tenet Healthcare, the nation's No. 2 hospital operator, owns seven hospitals in Louisiana, including three where layoffs were announced: Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans, Doctors Hospital in Jefferson and Meadowcrest Hospital in Gretna. Twenty-nine people lost their jobs at those hospitals, company representatives said Monday. Another three workers at the company's regional office in Kenner were laid off. ... Tenet Healthcare CEO Steps Down Reuters, May 27, 2003 New York - Tenet Healthcare Corp., the No. 2 US hospital chain at the center of a government probe into its billing practices, on Tuesday said Jeffrey Barbakow has stepped down as chief executive officer. Tenet said President Trevor Fetter will serve as acting CEO. Barbakow, 59, who gave up the title of chairman last month, will not stand for reelection to the board, the Santa Barbara, California-based company said in a statement. A dissident shareholder group had been agitating for Barbakow's removal from the company. Tenet chief executive Jeffrey C. Barbakow resigns Gary Gentile, Associated Press, May 28, 2003 <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/05/28/finan cial1659EDT0107.DTL> Los Angeles - Ten years ago, Jeffrey C. Barbakow took on the job of restoring investor confidence in a scandal-ridden hospital chain. Tuesday, the 59-year-old Barbakow resigned as chief executive of Tenet Healthcare, a victim of failing investor confidence following new woes for Tenet, these involving a Medicare billing scandal. When he took over in 1993, Tenet had been accused of holding some patients against their will in its psychiatric hospitals and treating them until insurance benefits ran out. He changed the company's name from National Medical Enterprises, refocused its mission on acute care general hospitals and built Tenet into the nation's second-largest for-profit chain, with 114 hospitals in 16 states. But last October accusations surfaced again, this time involving charges that Tenet relied too heavily on supplemental Medicare payments, that two doctors at a Tenet hospital in Redding performed hundreds of unnecessary heart surgeries and that doctors at a San Diego hospital might have paid to recruit patients. ... Tenet CEO resigns Barbakow leaves post as the hospital operator faces mounting lawsuits and federal investigations into its practices, including its billing. Bernard J. Wolfson & Chris Knap, The Orange County Register, May 28, 2003 <http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=41045§ion=BUSINESS&su bsection=BUSINESS&year=2003&month=5&day=28> CNA Files for Elections at 5 More Tenet Hospitals RNs at 13 of Tenet’s Non-Union Hospitals Now Seeking Election to Join California's Largest RN Organization California Nurses Association, May 29, 2003 <http://www.calnurses.org/cna/press/52903.html> The California Nurses Association will petition the federal labor board today for union elections to represent nearly 2,500 Registered Nurses at five more hospitals that are a part of the large Tenet Healthcare chain. The five include Tenet’s largest California hospital, Doctors Medical Center of Modesto, along with Alvarado Hospital Medical Center in San Diego, Midway Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles, Western Medical Center - Santa Ana, and Twin Cities Community Hospital in Templeton. In addition, CNA announced it has also filed for a representation election for 200 RNs at San Pedro Peninsula Hospital, a part of the Providence Health System. With the five latest filings, CNA has now petitioned for union representation elections for 13 non-union Tenet hospitals, in addition to the five Tenet hospitals already represented by CNA. Some 5,300 RNs work in those 18 hospitals. Overall, CNA, California’s largest organization of registered nurses, represents 50,000 RNs in 150 facilities across the state. Secret ballot elections for the five latest hospitals, supervised by the National Labor Relations Board, could be held within six weeks. The NLRB is scheduled to hold a hearing next Tuesday on earlier petitions by CNA to represent RNs at eight other Tenet hospitals. ... Union Seeks to Enroll Nurses at 5 Tenet Sites Filing by the California Nurses Assn. would seek to represent 2,300 and intensify a battle with two rival labor organizations. Ronald D. White, Los Angeles Times, May 29, 2003 The California Nurses Assn. is expected today to file a petition with the federal labor board that seeks to unionize registered nurses at five more hospitals owned by Tenet Healthcare Corp., the state's largest hospital operator. The move would bring to 13 the number of Tenet hospitals the nurses group is formally seeking to unionize, and it would intensify a battle CNA is waging against two rival unions - the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. This month Tenet, which operates 40 hospitals in the state, made a deal with the SEIU and AFSCME that essentially opened the doors to those unions to organize at Tenet hospitals and would guarantee certain wage increases for those who join the unions. ... Striking nurses at new gigs 80% from 2 East Bay hospitals working as strike goes on Jason B. Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle, May 29, 2003 <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/05/29/ BA310473.DTL> A bitter 6-month-old strike by nurses at two East Bay hospitals is already the longest of its kind ever in California, and it shows no sign of ending. But you won't see groups of angry strikers outside Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo and Pinole or a shortage of nurses inside. Day-to-day activity appears just as it did before the strike began Nov. 4: Accident victims are rushed into the 22-bed emergency room at the San Pablo hospital, and nurses rush quickly from station to station. The key difference is that replacement nurses, recruited from outside the state, are attending to patients. And 80 percent of the 450 striking nurses are working at other Bay Area hospitals. ... Since their contract expired Aug. 31, nurses have demanded that Tenet establish a pension plan with guaranteed monthly payments and health care for retirees - benefits that all other Bay Area hospital chains provide, union officials say. Tenet has opposed pensions, offering instead to boost employee pay and increase the amount it matches worker contributions to a 401(k) retirement plan from 3 to 5 percent. The company implemented this "best final offer" on April 15. In the meantime, Tenet has been staffing the Contra Costa hospitals with as many as 165 temporary nurses and is planning to hire permanent nurses to replace those who refuse to come back to work, Doctors spokesman Michel Burleson said. "We're not going to talk to them about retiree benefits or pensions," said Burleson. Tenet spokesman David Langness put it even more bluntly when he described pensions as a thing of the past. ... Alvarado nurses look at rival union Tenet's model contract not acceptable to them Michael Kinsman, San Diego Union-Tribune, May 30, 2003 Fearful that they were being steered toward a union of management's choosing, nurses at Alvarado Hospital Medical Center yesterday said they are seeking affiliation with a competing union. The California Nurses Association said it is seeking to represent nurses at five hospitals owned by Tenet Healthcare Corp. of Santa Barbara, including Alvarado. An estimated 350 to 400 nurses work at the San Diego hospital. Susan Gorney, a nurse in the intensive care unit of Alvarado, said the nurses sought out CNA after it learned that Tenet had begun negotiating with the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees. Tenet had reached agreement with the union on a so-called model contract for its hospitals where unionization efforts popped up. The model contract includes such pro-management tools as a nonstrike clause and mandatory arbitration. "We were being pushed into a union that we hadn't chosen," Gorney said. "It's like representation without representation." CNA represents about 50,000 nurses statewide, including a combined 2,000 at UCSD Medical Center, the San Diego Blood Bank and the Palomar Pomerado Health District in North County. Tenet spokesman Steven Campanini denied that SEIU/AFSCME was being foisted upon hospital workers. "This is a model union contract that we think helps us in the California marketplace," he said. "A union alliance like this helps us move forward when we are dealing with regulatory issues. We call it a strategic business move." He said the model contract could be used to streamline labor negotiations, provide for stable, predictable labor costs over the course of a contract and to align management, employees and union officials to work on issues of mutual interest. ... Union contest brewing as nurses target Tenet California Nurses Association says it is seeking election at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, four other hospitals. Bernard J. Wolfson, The Orange County Register, May 30, 2003 <http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=41394§ion=BUSINESS&su bsection=OC_REGION&year=2003&month=5&day=30> The California Nurses Association filed on Thursday with the National Labor Relations Board for federally supervised union elections at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana and four other California hospitals owned by Tenet Healthcare Corp. CNA had petitioned the NLRB earlier this month for union elections at eight other Tenet hospitals, including Los Alamitos Medical Center and Coastal Communities Hospital. The move intensifies a battle between CNA and two other labor groups - Service Employees International Union and United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals - which recently signed an agreement with Tenet calling for raises of as much as 29 percent over four years. Under the agreement, Tenet would facilitate union elections by SEIU or UNAC at its 40 hospitals in California. The CNA, which organizes only registered nurses, has asked the NLRB to nullify Tenet's pact with SEIU and UNAC, saying it is illegal and amounts to the company "hand-picking" its unions. ... Nurses seek union election Ken Carlson, Modesto Bee, May 31, 2003 <http://www.modbee.com/local/story/6873118p-7809985c.html> The California Nurses Association asked the federal labor board Thursday to hold a union election at Doctors Medical Center of Modesto, where almost 900 registered nurses are employed. Union officials filed the petition with the National Labor Relations Board after at least 30 percent of the nurses signed interest cards. All sides agree that the election is at least six weeks away and a majority who vote would have to favor representation in order for the union to be approved. Some nurses supporting the union said they were upset when hospital owner Tenet Healthcare Corp. announced an alliance with the rival Service Employees International Union. That agreement offered a raise of 29 percent over four years for nurses to join. Janet Petrides, a veteran nurse at DMC, said money is not the only issue. "I didn't think we needed union representation until the hospital decided to pick one for us," she said. "That is when a lot of us got more active in looking for a union. I don't think a union chosen by the hospital is going to do what's in the best interest of employees." ... Tenet Plans to Spend Millions to Block RN Voting Rights As Federal Labor Board Hearings Begin in Los Angeles California Nurses Association, June 4, 2003 <http://www.calnurses.org/cna/press/60403.html> At a time when Tenet Healthcare is facing multiple federal and state investigations into its billing and patient care practices that have already contributed to the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars for Tenet shareholders, Tenet is preparing to spend up to millions of dollars more to block efforts by its registered nurses to hold democratic representation elections, the California Nurses Association charged today. Federal labor board hearings began Tuesday on petitions filed by more than 4,000 RNs at 13 Tenet hospitals in California who are seeking federally supervised secret ballot elections to affiliate with CNA. Employing a team of high priced attorneys and offering repeated indications that it intends to use an array of legal maneuvers in stalling tactics, "Tenet has signaled that it plans to use a scorched earth policy of legal machinations to stymie the voting rights of its RNs, no matter what the cost," said CNA Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro. The hearings opened with the room filled with RNs, CNA supporters, from the 13 hospitals. Notably, only attorneys represented the other participants - Tenet, and two organizations that have signed an illegal backroom agreement with Tenet, the Service Employees Union (SEIU) and the State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). ... The Tenet/SEIU Back Door Deal <http://cna.igc.org/cna/watch/tenet/tenetbackdoor.html> Tenet's back room deal with the Service Employees Union (SEIU) and the State, County, and Municipal Employees (UNAC/AFSCME) creates a substandard contract that would undermine years of progress for RNs in compensation, retirement security, and patient protections. The substandard 'model' that Tenet and SEIU/UNAC are proposing for all RNs: For eight long years, Tenet RNs would be locked into: No pensions. Tenet only offers a substandard 401k plan - with no contributions without an employee match. No post-retirement medical benefits. No additional annual wage increases based on years of service. No improvements in shift differentials, standby pay, charge pay, preceptor pay, weekend pay, or paid education leave - unless you reduce your annual raise. A Tenet RN would lose nearly $10,000 every year in pension compared to the average of CNA hospitals. Over 20 years post-retirement, the RN would lose almost $200,000 compared to the CNA average. Tenet only contributes up to 5% to a 401K, if the RN can afford a match. Under plans negotiated by CNA for over 30,000 RNs last year, benefits are guaranteed without RN match. Chart describes monthly benefit after one, four, and eight years of the SEIU/UNAC Tenet deal vs. CNA contracts with HCA, Sutter Health, Catholic Healthcare West, and University of California hospitals, assuming annual 4% raises for an RN whose full-time pay is currently $60,000. No ban on mandatory overtime - the administrator on duty can force you to work overtime whenever they want. No improvements in staffing - the pact creates a management dominated committee with no effective means for RNs to appeal. No guaranteed protection of health benefits. No voice for RNs on deciding major contract priorities. No rights for RNs to hold public protests on cuts in care. No meaningful voice for RNs on contract disputes with Tenet - the only recourse is binding arbitration and an imposed settlement. Tenet and SEIU/UNAC have still refused to publish the actual agreement. What other RN rights have they sacrificed? No wonder Tenet calls the deal a "strategic alliance designed to strengthen the company's business position" - inflating Tenet's profits at the expense of its RNs and patient safety. Tenet RNs across California are rebelling against Tenet's illegal campaign to force them to join SEIU/UNAC, and be saddled with an agreement that would roll back standards for all California RNs. Join CNA, the Voice of California RNs for 100 Years: 50,000 RNs in 150 Facilities Downward Spiral for Our Profession and Our Professionalism: "RNs are upset that they don't get a say. It's a deal hatched in the back rooms between Tenet and SEIU. We want CNA, a union made up of RNs, run by RNs, and for RNs. CNA has a 100 year history of positive action for RNs and patients in California." Marla Liberty, RN, ICU, Daniel Freeman Marina San Diego Tenet Hospital Chief Indicted Reuters, June 6, 2003 New York - The chief executive of a Tenet Healthcare Corp. hospital in California has been charged by federal prosecutors with offering kickbacks and bribes to physicians to win patient referrals to the hospital. Barry Weinbaum, chief executive of Alvarado Hospital Medical Center in San Diego, allegedly signed relocation packages worth more than $10 million with various doctors who joined the practice of a local physician who received kickbacks to refer patients to Alvarado, according to a copy of the indictment. The indictment was filed in US District Court for the Southern District of California. Weinbaum, 49, who has been chief executive of Alvarado for 12 years, said in a statement on Friday that the allegations were "absolutely false," and he would "vigorously defend himself in court." He was not immediately available for additional comment. ... Tenet nurses form council to seek alternate union Reuters, June 9, 2003 Los Angeles - Nurses from 22 Tenet Healthcare Corp. California hospitals said on Monday a statewide council to unionize under the California Nurses Association (CNA), challenging Tenet's agreement allowing workers to join the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The CNA says the council represents 62 percent of Tenet's registered nurses, and nurses at four more Tenet hospitals have filed for federally-supervised elections to join CNA. On May 2, SEIU and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees forged an agreement with Tenet allowing employees in its 40 California facilities to join a union without employer opposition and guaranteeing immediate raises and a voice in patient care decisions. The company said late last month that more than 2,500 health care professionals at six Tenet hospitals in California had voted to join with SEIU. The CNA has said it plans to challenge the "illegal, fraudulent" deal as an attempt to bribe Tenet employees, deny them choice of representation and potentially harm patients. CNA says that under their agreement with SEIU, Tenet employees would be locked into a long-term agreement decided in closed door meetings with top management of Tenet and SEIU. ... Ex-Tenet CEO's 2,390% pay hike Watchdog group flags Barbakow's $117 million Russ Britt, CBS.MarketWatch.com, June 19, 2003 <http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?siteid=bizjournal&guid=%7B8487AFD4% 2D19B9%2D4FFB%2D96D3%2DFBA29007A78B%7D> Los Angeles - Deposed Tenet Healthcare chief executive Jeffrey Barbakow raked in $117 million in total compensation in 2002, double that of any other CEO in the S&P 500, a study released Thursday shows. Barbakow saw his pay, stock options and bonuses jump by 2,390 percent during the year, though his company's stock fell by nearly three-fourths in the wake of a Medicare billing scandal at Tenet, the Santa Barbara, Calif.-based health care provider. Tenet officials say that is an unfair measure of his annual compensation. The findings came from company watchdog The Corporate Library, which said the pay of S&P 500 chief executives rose by nearly two-thirds on average in 2002, even though stock prices in the index tumbled by nearly one-fourth during that time. "If shareholders continue to watch their stock fall in value, and CEOs continue to get paid handsomely, there is a divorce between the rights of shareholders and the CEO," said Paul Hodgson, senior research associate and author of the study. ... Trouble Reigns at Tenet Healthcare Kim Dixon, Reuters, June 23, 2003 Chicago - Hospital chain Tenet Healthcare Corp., under government probe for billing practices, on Monday said earnings would fall well short of Wall Street forecasts, leading the stock to lose roughly a quarter of its value. Tenet blamed higher medical costs and lower payments for the shortfall and said these pressures will likely persist through at least the first half of 2004. "It's a pretty dramatic reduction in expectations," said Robert Mains, an analyst at Advest Inc. "Both revenues and expenses are going in the wrong direction." US regulators alleged the company inflated charges to the government's Medicare healthcare program for seniors to enhance its revenues. Tenet's troubles with regulators left the company at a disadvantage when bargaining with private health plans, analysts said. ... Tenet Shares Fall After Weak Projections Associated Press, June 23, 2003 Santa Barbara - Shares in Tenet Healthcare Corp. plummeted Monday after the hospital operator projected unexpectedly weak earnings for its second, third and fourth quarters. Tenet has been scrutinized for questions surrounding its pricing strategies. Its Medicare billing is being investigated by federal authorities. The company said it is facing higher costs and getting lower payments from the US government and managed-care companies. Shares of Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Tenet fell hard on the outlook news. They were at $12.70 in early trading, down $3.53, or 21.7 percent, on heavy volume on the New York Stock Exchange. The day's weakest level of $12.23 was, at that point, a 52-week low. ... RNs at 2 More Tenet Hospitals Seek to Join CNA Elections Sought at Los Angeles, Orange County Hospitals, Brings Total CNA Election Petitions to 19 Tenet Hospitals California Nurses Association, July 10, 2003 <http://www.calnurses.org/cna/press/71003.html> The California Nurses Association will petition the National Labor Relations Board today for union elections to represent Registered Nurses at Monterey Park Hospital and Placentia Linda Hospital. Both hospitals are part of the giant Tenet Healthcare chain. With the new petitions CNA, the state's largest organization of registered nurses, has now filed for elections to represent the RNs at 19 Tenet hospitals. In addition to the 19, CNA already represents RNs at five Tenet hospitals. Placentia Linda in Placentia is the sixth Tenet hospital in Orange County where CNA is seeking a federally supervised election. CNA has now filed petitions in every non-union Orange County Tenet hospital. Monterey Park, in Los Angeles County, is notable as a facility where the Service Employees Intl. Union lost an election last month, under an illegal agreement it signed with Tenet in May. About 100 RNs are affected at each hospital. "Today's announcement is the latest blow to the back room deal between Tenet and its handpicked unions, SEIU and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which cooked up their 'alliance' precisely to prevent the RNs and other Tenet employees from deciding for themselves who they want to represent them," said David Johnson, CNA's Southern California director. ... Tenet agrees to pay fine for medical waste dumping charges Associated Press, July 15, 2003 <http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/7035972p-7984382c.html> Santa Barbara - Tenet Healthcare Corp. will pay $200,000 to settle medical waste dumping charges involving the company's hospitals in Palm Springs and Indio, officials said. The settlement involves Tenet's Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs and John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Indio. Officials believe it is the largest hospital medical waste dumping settlement in Riverside County history. The hospitals did not admit to any wrongdoing and signed the settlement earlier this month. Both hospitals revised their policies regarding waste handling and expanded employee training. County officials accused the two hospitals of unlawfully dumping unsterilized medical waste over an 18-month period, from August 2001 through last February. Among the improperly disposed wastes were bloody syringes, test tubes containing blood and unused pharmaceuticals. ... Ex-nurse sues Tenet Healthcare over firing Safety complaints led to layoff, she says Charlie Goodyear, San Francisco Chronicle, July 17, 2003 <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/07/17/ BA77576.DTL> A former nurse at Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo is suing Tenet Healthcare, claiming she was fired last year after complaining about doctors eating pizza during surgery. Marilyn Coleman said she had been terminated in July 2002 after just three months on the job. She is seeking at least $25,000 in monetary damages. According to the lawsuit filed last week in Contra Costa Superior Court, Coleman was retaliated against for other complaints about patient care and safety at the hospital, including the claim that doctors were not properly disposing of dirty needles and nurses were improperly dispensing drugs to patients in nonemergency cases. The lawsuit comes as Tenet, the nation's second-largest for-profit hospital company, is facing a federal probe over its Medicare billing practices. Aside from San Pablo, Tenet also owns hospitals in Pinole and San Ramon. Doctors Medical Center has also been embroiled in a bitter nurses' strike for more than six months. ... Photo Op Ric Francis, Associated Press, July 23, 2003 <http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030723/168/4rs5i.html> Ofra Estes and other registered nurses share their thoughts with Dr. Stephen Newman, chief executive officer of Tenet California, Wednesday, July 23, 2003, at the conclusion of Tenet's annual meeting of shareholders in Los Angeles. Executives at Tenet Healthcare Corp., the nation's second-largest hospital chain, acknowledged Wednesday that it is a 'painful time to be a shareholder,' of the troubled company, which is facing lawsuits and probes into billing and other practices. Copyright © 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2003 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. Tenet makes changes New leadership faces probe, nurses', investors' criticism Evan Pondel, Los Angeles Daily News, July 23, 2003 <http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~20950~1529058,00.html#> Tenet Healthcare Corp. named several new executives this week as the beleaguered hospital chain continues to face federal investigations and a flurry of criticism from nurses and investors. Edward Kangas, Tenet's new nonexecutive chairman, publicly expressed the need for change at the corporate level during the company's annual shareholders meeting Wednesday at the Skirball Cultural Center. "We have a lot of work to do," said Kangas, less than a day after Tenet named the former chairman and chief executive of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu as Jeffrey Barbakow's successor. Trevor Fetter, Tenet's acting president and chief executive officer, followed Kangas' remarks, saying "it's been a painful time to be a shareholder of Tenet. There is a lot of healing to occur ... and we're making steady progress." To propel the Santa Barbara-based company, Tenet appointed Dr. Jennifer Daley to the newly created position of senior vice president, clinical quality. The company also named Lauren Arnold as vice president, nursing. Kangas and Fetter were scheduled to field questions after the meeting, but a spokesman said the panel was canceled at the last minute without explanation. The shareholders meeting was attended by nearly 200 people, with several seats in the Skirball auditorium occupied by representatives of the California Nurses Association. "All we hear about are problems involving value at Tenet, that the company has to cut back on things, and we have to deal with these issues. But what about value? Who does the company value? Do they value me less than Kaiser does?" asked Elida Huerta, a resident nurse at Tenet's Doctors Medical Center San Pablo. "Who is going to help? How are you going to attract nurses?" Arnold said she was unable to comment about the current nursing situation at the hospital chain. Huerta was joined by several other CNA members who rallied in front of the cultural center before the meeting began. Many of the demonstrators were wearing black kerchiefs around their mouths, chanting, "We will not be silenced." ... Beseiged Tenet says changes focus to quality William Borden & Deena Beasley, Reuters, July 23, 2003 New York/Los Angeles - Tenet Healthcare Corp., which has been grappling with several federal investigations, has been touting efforts to improve its health care quality. The company issued two press releases this week focusing on health care quality and comments from top executives at Wednesday's annual shareholder meeting reiterated the point. "We have implemented a very aggressive strategy for rebuilding the company centered around quality," Acting Chief Executive Officer Trevor Fetter said. "It's the right thing to do." "In the hospital industry the only sustainable strategy is to emphasize quality," Fetter said at the annual meeting. Two press releases that mention quality during the same week do not constitute a publicity onslaught. However, it appears to be a change in public relations strategy that focuses on quality of patient care. ... Tenet Healthcare Vows to Rebuild Trust Gary Gentile, Associated Press, July 23, 2003 <http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030723/ap_on_bi_ge/tenet_ shareholders_2> Los Angeles - Executives at Tenet Healthcare Corp., the nation's second-largest hospital chain, acknowledged Wednesday that it is a "painful time to be a shareholder" of the troubled company, which is facing lawsuits and investigations into billing and other practices. Facing wary shareholders for the first time at the company's annual meeting, interim chief executive Trevor Fetter pledged that he and new independent board members would work to restore the company's reputation. "You have every right to demand from this company a solid growing business on a foundation of ethics and integrity," Fetter told about 200 shareholders and employees. ... Management was also criticized by about a dozen nurses represented by the California Nurses Association. The CNA is fighting Tenet at several hospitals and has accused the company of waging a multimillion-dollar campaign to block nurses from joining the union. "How can you give quality care when you don't have the staff to do it?" one nurse asked. ... Tenet Has Spent Over $6 Million in Patient Care Dollars to Deny a Voice and Choice to Its RNs California Nurses Association, July 23, 2003 <http://www.calnurses.org/cna/press/72303.html> Tenet Healthcare has squandered over $6 million just in the past seven weeks in an ongoing, heavy handed campaign to block its registered nurses from achieving representation with the California Nurses Association, CNA charged today. In a press conference Wednesday morning prior to Tenet’s annual shareholders meeting, CNA condemned Tenet’s waste of patient care dollars. Tenet is attempting to interfere with its RNs’ democratic rights - and RNs from several Tenet hospitals outlined the consequences for patient safety, CNA charged. "These practices make a mockery of Tenet’s pledge to the public and its shareholders that it is taking steps to restore its tattered image, including establishing a cooperative, respectful relationship with its caregivers," said CNA’s Southern California director David Johnson. "At a time of Tenet’s mounting legal troubles and faltering reputation, such behavior is especially counter-productive." CNA also raised questions about Tenet’s announcement today of the appointment of Jennifer Daley as senior vice president, clinical quality. Daley held a similar position in the late 1990s at Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center in Boston during which time the hospital was engaged in substantial cost cutting and changes in its nursing care. "This appointment does not provide any reassurance of a change in direction by Tenet," said Johnson. ... In a new book, Code Green - Money-Driven Hospitals and the Dismantling of Nursing (Cornell University Press, 2003, with a foreword by Suzanne Gordon), author Dana Beth Weinberg interviewed a number of RNs who voiced growing dismay with short staffing and their ability to assure quality patient care in the years Daley served as medical director of health care quality at Beth Israel-Deaconess. An excerpt from the book was recently published in a CNA-supported magazine, Revolution, the Journal for RNs and Patient Advocacy. As one RN told Weinberg, "I don’t have any trust in the administration of this hospital now to do the right thing because they’re too focused on cutting costs." Tenet Healthcare Needs a Cure for Anger Things got tense at its annual meeting, where nurses protested about working conditions and shareholders vented about lost value Arlene Weintraub, BusinessWeek Online, July 24, 2003 <http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jul2003/nf20030724_7498_db017.htm > Neither the blazing sun nor the rush-hour traffic could deter the angry knot of nurses who gathered on July 23 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, site of Tenet Healthcare's annual shareholder meeting. The nurses - some wearing black bandanas across their mouths - were protesting Tenet's efforts to prevent the California Nurses Assn. from unionizing some of its hospitals. "We're California nurses!" they chanted. "Mighty, mighty nurses! We will not be silenced!" One speaker after another blasted Tenet for cutting costs by understaffing hospital wards and not providing adequate wages and benefits. Supportive motorists tooted their horns as they passed the noisy demonstration. If Tenet execs were hoping to take refuge inside the meeting hall, they were out of luck. Shareholders of the embattled hospital chain based in Santa Barbara, Calif., were just as vocal and unforgiving, as they questioned whether executives are doing enough to regain their trust in the face of a massive legal mess. ... 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